Has anyone had success with PDT for Hormonal Cystic Acne?
I'm 36 and have really bad cysts from below my ears, lower jaw, chin & neck. I used to suffer from cysts everywhere but did accutane when I was 26 and it cleared most of my acne but I still have cysts all over my jaw/neck.
I also have VERY oily skin everywhere and get minor breakouts on my cheeks and sometimes tiny breakouts on my forehead. I used to break out everywhere including my chest & back but since accutane I'm abt 95% clear in those places.
I want to try PDT but it's so expensive. And the downtime sucks! So I don't want to go thru all of that if it's not going to work for my type of acne.
Anyone had any luck with it that has a similiar situation to me?
Side note: I've been on Spiro for years with success BUT it causes me Major emotional issues/depression/moodswings. And when I back off the Spiro my jaw/chin/neck go crazy with cysts. Also I want to get pregnant and you can't take Spiro during pregnancy. I need to find another solution.
Hmmm... Even thought it says it kills the sebaceous glands? Cuz my face is Sooooooo Oily! So if it kills the oil glands how will the acne form. Even if it is hormonal?
I know everyone's differnt and some people have acne even with out signs of oil. But that's not my case. When my face is oily.... I get acne. When it's dry.... I have no acne.
Hmmm... Even thought it says it kills the sebaceous glands? Cuz my face is Sooooooo Oily! So if it kills the oil glands how will the acne form. Even if it is hormonal?
I know everyone's differnt and some people have acne even with out signs of oil. But that's not my case. When my face is oily.... I get acne. When it's dry.... I have no acne.
I'm not saying you shouldn't go for it. It will SHRINK (not kill) sebaceous glands kind of like Accutane does, but I do think you need multiple PDT treatments to get as much shrinkage as a high dose of Accutane. But sebaceous glands do slowly grow back. It could give you relief for a while if you truly have no acne when you're dry.
I would get hormonal acne on really dry parts of my skin and no acne on really oily parts of my skin, so from my experience, hormones will keep going regardless of the oil level. More oil definitely can exacerbate a hormonal problem, but there are many people who still got hormonal acne while on and after Accutane.
Yea you do need several treatments. From what my Dr told me & from what I have read. 3-6 treatments 2-4 wks apart. Then if acne starts coming back you can do "touch up" treatments.
I've heard different opinions about it. Some Dr's and people say it works so well.... almost as well as accutane without the side-effects obviously so it's much safer.
My Dr told me that she hasn't had that good of results with people being "cured" the way accutane does. She almost always has to do "touch ups" OR the patient just gives in and does the accutane.
But having done accutane I'd rather do the series and if I have to do touch ups for the rest of my life it's better than accutane. Cuz that crap is nasty! lol
I paid almost 3,000 dollars for three sessions only and it did clear me up. I was dealing with cysts on cheek and jawline. I got my sessions two weeks apart. and the downtime was stay out of the sun for 72 hours. and flaky skin for a week . At the beginning it was good . after a month or so. Acne came back. ANd I'm still currently breaking out with cysts again !!! i got the PDT done a year ago today. Now my acne is just as worse as last year. Overall it was a temporarily fix. Which didn't clear me up permanently . Im still here with hormonal acne !!!!
I haven't been terribly impressed with the PDTs I had. I was told I'd see a vast improvement, if not a "cure," with one treatment. Well, THAT didn't happen, so I believe I had either three or four. If there was a decrease in oil production, I didn't notice it so much. Btw, a disclaimer of sorts: I apologize if I seem to be a Negative Nancy...that's not my intention whatsoever. I suffer from cystic acne in particular, so with you suffering from minor/tiny breakouts, you could see an improvement.
Over the summer I was scheduled to have a Fraxel Re:Pair. I was terrified, so I sought the opinion of two other doctors...my dermatologist and a facial plastic surgeon friend of a friend. Anyway, when I mentioned having the three/four PDTs to my dermatologist, he informed me he always suggested having SEVERAL -- as in, like, buying a package of TWELVE -- to see improvement. The facial plastic surgeon really didn't comment one way or another on his opinion, but I should have listened to his opinion and went with the "old fashioned" CO2 laser and not the Fraxel Re:Pair since the Fraxel didn't accomplish jack squat imo. Oh well. Lesson learned the hard way. And the whole reason I mentioned that about the Fraxel is because it seems to me that after the Re:Pair my oil production has stepped up. 